Rated 4.22 / 5 from 36 reviews
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AC Electric AC Electric is a family-owned business that has served the Austin area since 1984. The company provides a wide range of electrical services for its residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Mike Short, the Master Electrician who founded the company, is licensed by the State of Texas as an Electrical Contractor-#20902.

He has over 40 years of experience in the electrical trade. Well respected by his peers, Mike has partnered with numerous builders and contractors over the years. He was selected for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 "Super Service Award" by Angie's List, a national rating service. AC Electric is proud to be a supporting member of Austin's Better Business Bureau and has received an A+ rating for our consumer service.
Business details
  • Year established: 1984
Services
Whole House Surge Protector
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The need for surge protection has increased dramatically. This is because many electronic devices can be damaged by surges. Electronic devices sensitive to power surges occur in: security systems, computers, printers, FAX machines, telephones, small appliances, microwave ovens, refrigerators, stereos, garage door openers, and low-voltage lighting systems.
Ceiling Fans Save Energy
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Ceiling fans save you energy in both summer and winter. In summer, running a ceiling fan creates wind-chill on your skin. If run counter-clockwise (to avoid pulling warm air down from the ceiling), it lowers the temperature for occupants by one or two degrees. These degrees can be bought for less energy than with an air conditioner.
Building Renovations
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When it's time to remodel or renovate your home or commercial building, it's important to hire an electrician familiar with older construction methods that might have been used in your building. We have this familiarity and are experienced at electrical work for remodels and renovations. Our experience will speed your job along and save you money. Contact Us for A Free Estimate!
Troubleshooting
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Our electrical technicians are specially trained in troubleshooting procedure. Additionally, we have an in-house technician with years of troubleshooting experience who is available to consult with any of our field technicians if they run into a particularly unusual problem. For the customer, this means fast and accurate troubleshooting. Contact Us for A Free Estimate!
Lighting
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It is important to be aware of all the different lighting options and which kind of lighting will work best for each customer. We specialize in helping each customer select the best lighting available to fit their special needs. Contact Us for A Free Estimate!
Videos
AC Electric is a family-owned business that has served the Austin area since 1984. The company provides a wide range of electrical services for its residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Mike Short, the Master Electrician who founded the company, is licensed by the State of Texas as an Electrical Contractor--#20902.
Reviews (36)
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Arthur L.
Feb 08, 2022
Art Lawrence definitely provides elite, professional electrical service. Any type of electrical work you need completed, Art is the one for the job. He is also a specialist at what is called electrical troubleshooting. He really knows his stuff and his pricing is very fair. Art is also fun to work with. Highly recommended!
Sriram B.
Apr 02, 2021
I had commissioned AC electric for a large electric job lasting more than 2 weeks to do some major repairs to my house. While the progress was good initially, they started doing other projects in the middle and skipping work at my project. After 80% of the project is done they have now gone missing for almost 2 weeks now. Emails and calls to them are resulting in no answers about how and when they would finish the work.

I understand they are going through some issues on their side, my project and move in date is now delayed by weeks with no line of sight to when the project will be completed. I would definitely not recommend them for an electric project to anybody.
Sandra E.
Jul 18, 2020
Worst "service" ever. Called after having used this company in past. Past service was years ago and was good. Years later, total waste of time. Owner's wife stopped by to take pictures of job, commenting she was on her way to visit grandchildren. Visit was chatty and lengthy. She called owner and discussed job, price was discussed as well as many other non relevant things.

I was under time crunch due to a move in date on an unfinished home. Debbie never followed up with me after a couple weeks. I emailed her more than once and was told they would try for the following week, working on it, hard to say.blah blah, but to "hold on" and no promises. I was happy to wait for the right company, but after weeks of no update and again having to initiate the effort to get service, I gladly moved on to a company that came in 2 days and completed work quickly and neatly. The wife running the business and stonewalling didn't work for me.
Mark A.
Jan 13, 2020
AC Electric has been out to my rental property multiple times over the past 5 years to perform COPALUM repairs on my aluminum wiring. They also assisted me with a kitchen renovation, helping me to replace aluminum wiring, adding new copper dedicated 20A circuits and install new LED undercabinet lights in the kitchen. Most recently they demolished my old 1969 electrical service entry on my rental property and re-installed a new one.

They worked with my siding contractor to make sure the rotted siding was replaced behind the panels before they installed the new service. AC Electric brought by a loaner gas generator to keep our refrigerators & internet running overnight while the power was off. Photos are shown below of the service entry BEFORE and AFTER. I'm a picky client and their team has always done a quality job for a fair price.
Travis K.
Nov 20, 2019
Scheduled an appointment to get an estimate from Mike to run the electrical for my hot tub. Mike came out to my house and gathered all of the information he needed. He said he'd follow up with me in a few days with an estimat. Never heard back from Mike even after several follow up calls and emails.
Robert E.
Aug 14, 2019
Setting up the appointment was great, and Debi was very friendly. However, I can't really rate the quality of work, because the guy never showed up! No call, no followup to reschedule, nothing. Thanks for wasting my time
Doug W.
Apr 30, 2019
I'm going to update my review once more here. I still can't say that I am happy with my experience--we were ultimately left with a job that was incomplete. However Debi did call me after my update and was very apologetic. She did not ask me to change my review, simply acknowledged that they fell short and apologized, and I felt it was sincere. They're a small family business and it sounds like personal events in their life disrupted the work.

So I guess what I would say is that if you want to support a local family business and avoid the big companies then I would still recommend AC. I hope my experience was a rare miss and they are able to get back to the quality service that I had heard about.
Johnny J.
Jul 30, 2018
I needed a new service entry for a 1958 house and I'd give them five stars for that $1,600 job. Owner Mike was great to deal with, as was his wife Debbie. I called them after that for a circuit breaker that kept opening and I couldn't understand what was causing that. Debbie was as nice as ever, but wouldn't schedule with me now because of the distance from their house to mine. Said she'd pencil me in on the calendar for a service call, meaning when it was convenient for AC.

The Friday before Memorial Day, Debbie called to tell me her electrician would make a call on Memorial Day since it was on his way out of town. I waited all day, no call, no show. I took care of the problem another way after weeks had passed. The cable stay for the new electrical service AC installed pulled out of the roof. It was a short lag screw that had only penetrated some shingles, very unsafe and useless in providing the required support for a long run of heavy cable from the street. I've called AC twice and had to leave a message both times, without a return call from them.

Kind of leaves me no choice but to post my experience. I don't know what to make of such a reversal of service, weeks long waits, not showing when they schedule, and most critically, not fixing the hanging mast support cable that wasn't installed properly.
Jane K.
Jan 09, 2018
Mike did a fantastic job installing the electrical needed for my new outdoor hot tub. First, Mike offered to stop by to provide me a quote in person at no charge, which I very much appreciated. Mike was very accomodating as my schedule changed and had great communication about the time and date for his service. He was professional, thorough, diligent in getting the job done.

I also liked that he was friendly and kind. He did the work for the quoted price. I asked him to take a quick look at something else and he did without charge. He also gave me a few ideas about hot tub installation - totally out of his scope but he's just that kind of nice guy to help if he can. I strongly recommend Mike and will call him forever more if I ever need further electrical work.
Stanley Brooke
Sep 24, 2017
Over the years AC Electric has added electrical capacity at my home and for my work (computer store renovation). We recently selected AC Electric for all our electric power requirements for our Austin Area Disaster Relief Laundry and Shower Trailers.
Mae Holmes
Apr 27, 2017
AC Electric, Mike Short, has helped me with my hot tub on several different occasions. He is extremely knowledgeable, courteous and professional. I cannot say enough good things about Mike. Any electrical problems I have in the future, even if it is not the hot tub, I will call Mike immediately. If you need electrical work, I can not recommend him enough.
Kelly Tice
Jan 03, 2017
Had a great experience with AC Electric when dealing with aluminum wiring (we went with the Copalum solution) and replacement of an old electric panel. Their quote was quite a bit lower than the competition (by a few thousand dollars) but that didn't affect the work - their professionalism and work ethic was stellar. Work was performed on-time (only delay was from the city permit for the panel, not under their control). They went above and beyond to fix minor issues not covered in the original scope of work and were a pleasure to work with. Thanks, AC!
Mark V.
Sep 28, 2016
Had a small electrical issues in a couple bathrooms so called AC since they are close/local. They were really busy so the receptionist (Debbie?) gave me some things to check and it worked! Now that is how you gain and keep customers! AC will be my go to electrician from now on!
Greg Smith
Jun 04, 2016
AC electric is awesome. Mike is knowledgeable calm and efficient. I have worked with many electricians and these guys are very fair in their pricing and deliver excellent workmanship.
Tomas Martinez
Apr 12, 2016
Knows his stuff, great service. Call Mike when you have electrical problems. Very fair pricing!
Maria Seidner
Apr 02, 2016
Service needed: removal and replacement of light fixtures (chandeliers) one in dining room and one in entry way. Electrician came by day before service to measure height of entry chandelier to bring the correct ladder for the service.
Jessica Bradley
Mar 22, 2016
AC came to my house when we did discovered we had aluminum wiring. They did a full cop-alum upgrade and we also had them install some new fixtures in our dining room and an outdoor outlet. Great, professional and quick service!
Nan Hampton
Mar 14, 2016
I have used AC Electric several times and I highly recommend them. They are prompt, efficient, very skilled and extremely pleasant to deal with. In addition, their prices are very reasonable. In fact, on occasion they have stopped by to check on my problem, fixed it quickly and didn't charge me.
Laurel S.
Feb 23, 2016
Mike is always quick to respond and attentive. I highly recommend AC Electric!
Kathy & Scott D.
Jan 25, 2016
AC Electric safely upgraded the aluminum wiring in our home by using the Copalum process of wiring that they're certified to do in a very professional manner. The job was completed on time and for the cost originally estimated. We could have chosen a more well known company to do this work; however, we felt that the service provided and the knowledge of AC Electric was superior.
Jose Soltren
Jan 17, 2016
Mike and his crew installed an RV plug in our garage to allow us to charge a Nissan Leaf using an aftermarket charger. It did take some time to get some answers to my questions and find a good time for the installation. The work is solid and I would call Mike again for future electrical work.
Indranil Chakraborty
Jan 17, 2016
Easy to do business with. Professional and thorough. Mike and Debi make a wonderful team and I will definitely support their business. I only wish there were an easier payment option (than having to pay the service fee if using a credit card).
Jessica Johnson
Nov 18, 2015
AC came to my house when we did discovered we had aluminum wiring. They did a full cop-alum upgrade and we also had them install some new fixtures in our dining room and an outdoor outlet. Great, professional and quick service! Their rates were very reasonable. The crew was very respectful of my home and made sure to clean up thoroughly afterwards. I'll definitely be contacting them again in the future.
Indranil Chakraborty
Nov 16, 2015
Easy to do business with. Professional and thorough. Mike and Debi make a wonderful team and I will definitely support their business. I only wish there were an easier payment option (than having to pay the service fee if using a credit card).
Elizabeth W.
Oct 06, 2015
These guys did a fantastic job on my addition. They stand by their work and they are speedy.
S. W.
Sep 26, 2015
Excellent service and a knowledgeable crew. They replaced a couple of landscaping uplight fixtures for me with new ones I purchased and it works great! Also inspected my electrical panel to be sure everything was wired properly. Would definitely hire again in the future!
Brian H.
Sep 13, 2015
We called Mike Short (yes that really is his name) to have an electrician come to our home and troubleshoot a bad ceiling fixture. The technician quickly determined that the original line was damage during construction, so the build snaked a space line beside it in case the line failed. As it had failed, our AC Electric tech was able to quickly rewire to the new line and had everything better than new in less than 30 minutes. Service was first rate and the price was fair.
Sally Crocker
Aug 21, 2015
From the first phone contact through a several day job, the AC folks were friendly, knowledgeable, & got the job done! I highly recommend their work.
Abby R.
Aug 21, 2015
Great customer service. I only needed electrical outlets replaced inside and outside of my home and a faulty light fixture replaced. The electrician was polite and friendly. There was a minor problem with the installation of an inexpensive light fixture that I bought (I won't make that mistake again) at a local home improvement store. They promptly fixed the issue. I would recommend them to family and friends.
Lisa S.
Jul 03, 2015
I have used AC Electric on three occasions and each time they were exceptional! They showed up within a couple of days of my calling, showed up on time, were extremely professional and efficient. I will call them in the future for any electrical needs and recommend them to friends and family!
Tim G.
May 08, 2015
I like Mike. He has done good work for us in the past. My last round we had some hiccups due to his bucket truck not wanting to cooperate, but we figured out how to get past that. I think you can trust Mike to take care of you. Tim
Rw H.
May 07, 2015
I have worked with Mike on multiple occasions They installed a 200 amp panel and completely wired my studio, including some 3 phase circuits. At our first meeting Mike made some very helpful and cost saving suggestions. The price was reasonable and the work was completed in a timely manner. I will use them for all my electrical work!
Jtoma F.
Apr 30, 2015
Love these guys. Locally owned and very speedy service, especially when it is the middle of summer and you need something done quickly in the Texas Heat. I found out about them online and everything was done as promised. Pricing was okay. Not the most expensive or the cheapest.
Paige Jewell
Feb 19, 2015
They do really good work and are a nice family run business. They are in Southwest Austin, but will go all over the city. I would highly recommend them if you are wanting to get your job done correctly, and just done once. They don't cut corners and they have been in business for many years. Mike and Debbie are truly experts in the field.
Paige J.
Aug 12, 2014
Epitome of locally owned and operated business. They work very hard and their customer service is amazing. Debbie is always a pleasure to talk to even though I know she's extremely busy as she's the only one running the office. I'd highly recommend them if you want a quality electrician that is very trustworthy. Wouldn't use anyone else in Austin.
Angela H.
Sep 11, 2013
1. lady answered said she was on the road and would call me back to schedule an appointment - didn't call back. 2. I called her back and couldn't get anything for 3 weeks so I went ahead and scheduled it. 3. appointment was at 8:30 am today. No call. No show.